Never Let You Fall
by Rayne Arianna Maranochi
Summary: Lara and the rest of the crew of the Endurance are stranded on Yamatai and must find a way to survive. Accompanied by a new addition to the team Lara and Arya must combat their growing feelings for each other as they struggle to survive the horrors that Yamatai throws at them. Can they save Sam before Mathais uses her to bring back the Sun Queen? *Warning: girl x girl content*
1. New Beginnings

So this is where the disclaimer goes. I do not own any of the characters except for my OC Arya. The storyline will be following the normal gameplay of the new reboot of Tomb Raider closely, but it will still have things changed here and there to incorporate. More realistic feel. This is intended to be a story about saving Sam all while Lara and Arya are finding out just how much they like each other. If you don't like girl x girl content then please leave the story as it is here for people's enjoyment. Although I do love a good blaze so feel free to add fuel to the fire if you must, it will only make me too happy to continue with this even more so then i already am. :D *gotta love being into fire. Pyros rock!*

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Arya walked into a slightly crowded cafe centralized somewhere in the Uk. She could never really remember the towns name, but the people were nice. As she walked in she was greeted by several happy faces.

"Arya, how are you my dear?" Richie asked as she stepped up to the counter to order her usual Strawberry-Bannana Smoothie.

"I'm doing alright. Haha. So how are things with you and Allison? You still moving in together?" Arya smiled as Richie was making her smoothie, and took the moment to look around the cafe. "You guys sure are busy today, what's all the hubbub about?"

"Hah, we're doing great, we got everything moved in last week." Richie finished making her smoothie and set it up on the counter, and rang up the total. "That'll be 4.88 pounds, please. And I'm not quite sure, I think someone's recruiting for an expedition of some kind, some newly graduated Archeologist."

"Hmmm. Maybe I'll have to see if I can't be recruited, I always have been itching to go on a good adventure. Besides, if anything I can do whatever they need me to do. If I don't know how to do it, I can learn, and if they can't teach me then..." Arya didn't even get to finish as Richie chuckled and finished her statement.

"You can read it from the manual and figure it out yourself right?" Richie shook his head. "You're hopeless Arya. Go on then, lemme know if you get in, I'll be routing for you." He said as he jerked his head towards the back corner where so many people had started to gather.

Arya took that opportunity to pay him, then grabbing her smoothie she carefully maneuvered her way around the crowd of customers and came to a stop in front of a young British girl, an oriental looking girl, and an older gentleman. The man was currently speaking to the crowd.

"Alright we're funding an expedition to try and find the lost city of Yamatai. Now I know this sounds far fetched, but we're looking for anyone who can work on a ship and do whatever needs done, no questions asked. Lara here is going to be the main Archeologist for the team, as she knows the most about where we're going. So anyone that wishes to sign up should come up." He took the time to sit down and began talking to the other girls as the crowd started to murmur to one another. So Lara was the name of the British woman, it was a pretty name.

Arya thought about it for a few seconds, before making her way to the front and setting down her smoothie casually. The chatter died down slightly and the gentleman, and two girls looked up. "I want to sign up. I may not look like much, but tell me what to do and I can do it. If I don't know it, then teach me I'm a quick learner. I promise if you can't teach me then give me a manual and I'll figure it out myself. My specialty would be in maintaining computers or technology I guess, but I can cook as well if that needs done. " The gentleman looked at me for a moment, before he started to say; "I'm sorry, but I don't think..." Only to be cut off by Lara.

"Alright, you're in." Lara stated as she looked at me. I smiled, I was determined not to let this woman down.

"Lara, are you sure? " the oriental girl questioned her friend.

"Yes, Sam. She seems dead set on this, and something tells me she won't disappoint us. Come on Roth, let her sign up." Lara said as she turned towards her friend and the older gentleman.

"Fine." Roth handed me a piece of paperwork to sign and I instantly began filling it out. Once it was done I handed it back. He looked it over and nodded. "We leave the end of this week, head to the shipyard and look for S.S. Endurance, be there by 6:00 am so we can be prepped and ready to leave by 8 am."

"Yes, sir. And no I'm not mocking you, I have the utmost respect for you, I can tell you're ex-military, so are my father and mother. I won't let you down." Roth noted the determination in my gaze and smiled.

"You remind me of someone I used to work with once. Alright girly, it looks like it will be a pleasure to work with you." He extended his hand for a handshake and I took it. Roth noted how firm my handshake was and that I wasn't afraid to give a proper handshake, not some sissy form of one. 'Hmmm this one will be interesting to keep an eye on.'

"Thank you. I'll see you all on Friday, bright and early." I let go of Roth's hand and picked up my smoothie before tilting it upwards as a significant respect. Then I turned around and carefully wound my way back through the mass of people towards the exit. I gave Richie a thumbs up as I passed.

"Congrats, Arya. I'm sure you'll knock em dead."

Three weeks later...

"Come on Arya I need those bolts tightened ASAP. Once that's done the boiler needs fed." Reyes was riding my ass like crazy, but I did what was needed. As soon as I had the bolts tightened as much as I could get them, without stripping the bolts, I went ahead and started refueling the boiler.

"Alright, Reyes. Chill out, I'm working as fast as I can here." So far I was one of the few people who could get away with being cheeky to Reyes, and not get a wrench thrown at them. At the moment I was in a tank top covered in grime as I shoved coal into the boiler. It was hot as hell, but I knew it needed done, do I did it, despite losing so much damn weight from the amount of water I lost from sweating.

"Heh you're lucky you're useful kid. Not many people could get away with using that time with me. Though, you're alright in my book. You work hard to be here and when no one else can do anything I can ask you and sure enough you'll do it." Reyes shook her head and smiled as she co tinted working on putting a new strap on one of the pipes. "You still reading the manuals if you get stuck?"

"You bet. I don't want to seem like I'm burdening you by my ignorance, so I figured I might as well learn from a book, then if I needed help it would be okay, because at least I tried." I shrugged as I put the shovel down and closed the hatch for the Boiler and backed up.

"Yeah, alright. Go wash up, I'm sure Jonah and Grim have some food ready in the kitchen."

"You sure? I can still stay and help."

"Naw, it's fine. Go on ahead, I won't be that long."

"Alright, if you say so. Don't hesitate if you need help though, radio me and I'll come back."

"Yeah, yeah kid go on. Geez you'd think I was the rookie." Reyes shook her head as she smiled, and I chuckled as I headed up to the main deck and down the hall to my room. Once I opened the door I headed to the bathroom to wash off my hands and face. After that I toweled off and headed back out and down the other end of the hallway towards the kitchen, after closing my door.

The kitchen was packed and Lara was facing off against Dr. Whitman as to how we should approach the island. Personally I agreed with Lara, there's no point in going the same way others went, if it didn't lead to anything.

I turned to Dr. Whitman and decided to say just that. "Hey, look I may not be an archeologist, but I believe Lara's right. If the island was anywhere around where the rest of those archeologists looked, then they'd of found it by now. I think she's got a point, why else haven't people been able to find the place. It stands to reason with the lore and the dangerous weather in the Triangle that the island is located somewhere inside of it." Whitman just glared at me.

"I don't remember asking your opinion. As far as I'm concerned you're useless and a nuisance. All you do is run around and do things that anyone else can do, you're getting a free ride out of this. I'm the lead archeologist, and I don't think we should change course based on a whim." He looked so smug, god I hate that expression. I hate being treated as if I'm something second rate, as if I don't even matter.

"Yeah, " I said it as a whisper, then I spoke louder, I was angry and hurt it was clear as day on my face. Ironically Reyes showed up when I exploded on Whitman. "I may be doing things that everyone else can do, but I'm good at it. I may not be an archeologist, I may not have put money into this expedition, but I've put blood, sweat, and tears into making sure you all get what you're looking for. I've taken the time to learn what I needed to in order to benefit everyone on the ship. So yeah, I may be a second rate...lowlife. I may be nothing, but I've done everything, and I won't let you condem Lara's hard work when I know she's right. God."

Everyone was quiet as I apologized to Jonah and said I wasn't hungry anymore before I marched out of the kitchen and down to my cabin. I was so freaked, but I didn't stop at my cabin, instead I went ahead and went to the front of the ship and climbed up high so I could cry and be closer to the ocean, it always calmed me. I even missed Roth freaking out and saying that he was the captain and that they'd be going with Lara's idea.

I sat there and cried, the oceans salty breeze lapping at the edges of the ship as we cut through the water. The spray from the water as it hit the sides of the boat clung to my face letting me know I wasn't alone, not really. Then I heard a pair of feet coming up the ladder before I felt a pair of strong yet feminine hands on my shoulders. I turned and looked and there was Lara and just behind her was Sam.

"You, okay?" Lara asked, her eyes searching my face for any telltale sign that may give her an indication as to how I felt.

" Of course she's not okay. The poor thing probably wants to kill Whitman, not that I blame her." Sam chuckled trying to lighten the mood, which only reignited by tears. Lara looked at Sam with an expression similar to 'Seriously? Sometimes I don't think you can read the situation.' Accompanied by Sam's expression of 'Sorry.'

"Hey, I didn't mean to make you cry sweetie. Sometimes I just try and lighten the mood ya know? I hate seeing people so sad." Sam tried to reassure me, and it kind of worked.

Taking a deep breath I looked up at both of them. Noting that Lara's hand had not moved from my shoulder, I found an odd sense of peace in that. "Tis alright, Sam. Twasn't your fault las, it was me own stupid sense of pride that got hurt in the process. Hell any other given day and I'd of told the stupid git where he could shove it, hah." I smiled at the thought and noticed that Sam and Lara were staring at me incredulously. "What?"

" We're you mocking me?" Lara asked as she took her hand off of my shoulder. Sam looked to be pondering something.

"No! I wouldna do that to ya. Shit, ah fer get it. As it turns out I happen to be part Scottish, Irish, German, British, and god knows what else. So I suppose I tend to let a bit of the Scottish in me out at times, it's taken me a while to get used to it. I never was very good with accents, but learning Scottish brogue came quite naturally." I smiled up at Lara and Sam as I stood, my voice going back to normal.

"We'll that explains a lot." Sam smirked. I just looked at her confused.

"Huh?" Lara and I both said at the same time.

"Your both British! Okay we'll your part British, but still." Lara and I looked at each other and laughed.

"I only drink Peach Snapple iced tea, so we don't always get along." I smirked at Lara and she smiled.

"There is nothing wrong with Yorkshire Tea! Although I will admit, your Snapple isn't bad either." Now it was my turn to be shocked.

"You tried some? I thought you were kidding." I had given her my bottle and told her to try some, but I didn't know she actually had. Somehow that made me happy.

"Yeah, you offered. Besides your not the only one who likes to try new things, heh bad habit I got from Sam in college." She seemed nervous, so I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze before I let it go again.

"It's no biggie. I'm glad you liked it though." I turned and looked back towards the ocean, I had no idea what was wrong with me Lara being so close was a comfort, but I could feel a blush creeping up into my cheeks. "Come on, if Whitman's out of the kitchen I really do need food. That is if you guys don't mind accompanying me?" I turned back around once I had calmed down.

Sam just smiled, there was a knowing glint in her eye that caught me off guard, but it disappeared as soon as I saw it. "Yeah, we didn't really eat either, Lara looked like she was going to rip Whitman's head off after you left, and Reyes was right behind her."

"Sam!"

"Lara! Hah come on it's true. No reason to be shy sweetie, we all know you get protective of your friends."

"Still...fine. There's no point in arguing with you anyway, you'll just continue on your merry way no matter what I say." Lara sighed exasperatedly which made me smile to myself, it was cute.

"You know it, now come on. I'm positively starving I mean look at me, I'm withering away over here." We all rolled our eyes and headed back to the kitchen. Thankfully Jonah still had some food left, I guess he figured we'd be back.

"Ah, little bird, Sam, Arya, it's good to see you. I'm betting your hungry." Jonah smiled as he looked up from cleaning the dishes.

We all looked at each other and smiled. "Yeah, besides someone was withering away, and on top of that we have a common enemy." Sam and I grinned at Lara.

"Oh? And who would that be little bird?" Jonah already knew the answer, but it made him laugh when we all said it aloud.

"Whitman!" We laughed after saying it, tears leaking from our eyes as we tried not to laugh to hard.


	2. Waking up & Escape

Standard disclaimer. I do not own Tomb Raider or the characters. I own my OC and the storyline I'm putting together to mesh with the games storyline. Swearing may be in different languages and probably not spelled correctly. I do however try and make it so you can at least sound it out. The only swearing here is in Swedish as I've heard PewDiePie on youtube say it in his videos and the text he puts in translated it. So in short the swear is "Oh bloody fucking hell" in case you were wondering. Now enjoy chapter 2. :D

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That night was horrible, I can still remember it so vividly. The storm came so quickly and the next thing I know the boats shaking and I'm clinging to Lara's door for dear life. I had just come to talk to her when the ship started bucking in the water, something was off, and I knew it the moment I had a blast of water trying to shake me off of Lara's door. Her door opened and I grabbed her hand as we attempted to get to a point of the boat that wasn't to damaged. It was chaos, one minute it felt like we were drowning and the next we were running trying to clear the ginormous gap between the two halves of the ship. Lara jumped first and I was right behind her, I shoved her ass up in the air as I fell. Now I didn't do it sexually, he'll I just wanted her to be safe as I went into a downward spiral to the blackened waters beneath me. The next thing I know my head was breaking the surface and Lara was falling, she fell right into me, but she kind of knocked her head off of something because I had to help her get to shore.

Let me tell you fighting dangerous waters is hard enough, and trying to save someone you care about makes it even harder, I suppose the adrenaline boost I got helped make it to shore, though I'd like to think I did it on my own. Survival instincts are a bitch, but damn if they don't help you survive. I pulled Lara further up onto the beach when we hit the bank and I helped pump the water out of her system, having to give her mouth to mouth was interesting, thankfully the second time I breathed my air into her she lurched upwards and turned to the side spewing the water from her system. I sat back down on the beach and sighed in relief.

"Oh thank god. I thought I'd lost you for a minute."

"Thank you... Where's everyone?" Lara looked at me and I could tell she was tired, wet and tired, which wasn't a good combination seeing as how I knew it was going to get colder by the way the wind was whirling around.

I looked around and noticed a fire at the top of the bank, there was grass and people, I could just barely make out the shape of Reyes, Alex, and Grim. "Up there, come on maybe we can get warm by the fire." I reached down and helped Lara to her feet, and of course we had no sooner stared walking forward calling out to the others that we were alive, then we got knocked unconscious by something, or someone.  
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I awoke a short time later to find myself hanging upside down in some cavern with Lara beside me. We were wrapped up in some sort of cloth. On top of that I had a massive headache pounding in my skull, I mean who wouldn't after being knocked unconscious. I wiggled a little bit so I could look at Lara and see if she was alright.

"Hey, your up. Are you okay?" Lara looked at me concern etched into her beautiful face. 'Damn she's cute when she's concerned...wait WHAT! No no no, can't think like that now. I have to get us out of here, but how...'

"Uh, yeah. So any ideas of how to get down? I mean there are torches, but I don't exactly know how that's going to... Lara what are you doing?!" I was just throwing out basic knowledge of our surroundings until I noticed Lara rocking back and forth, she knocked a torch off of the wall and it ignited the wood that held us, as well as the cloth binding us. I guess the stuff was really dry.

Lara and I started to fall and that's when I noticed a sharp piece of metal sticking up from the ground below us, I tried in vain to push Lara out of the way as we fell, but only succeeded in maneuvering her above me and slightly out of the way. We both became impaled by the piece of metal once we hit the floor, causing us both to cry out in agony. It had pierced through my left side and Lara's right side as she landed on top of me. I had been trying to get her out of the way, but it still hit her. We both got up gingerly and I slightly pushed Lara off of the metal protruding from my side. She was in pain but I reached down and yanked the metal out of me.

"Oh vlady Javla Helven! That hurt..." I stared at the piece of metal in my hands, damn it was rusted. 'If I don't do something about the gaping hole in Lara and my sides we may end up with an infection. And with how rusted this thing is god only knows what type of bacteria it may of had on it, so the quicker I figure out how to patch us up, the better.'

"Hey, you ..okay?" Lara was asking me, but I barely heard her as I was lost in my thoughts, until she lifted up and hand and placed it against my cheek causing me to look at her. "Are you okay?" She asked again, uncertainty flickering in her gaze.

I reached up with my free hand and placed it over the hand she had on my cheek and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I'll be alright. Just got a gaping hole in my side, no big." I pulled her hand away and placed a gentle kiss on it before I let her hand fall back to her side as I forced myself to stand. Once I was sure of my footing I removed my hand from my side and reached down with both arms and carefully hoisted Lara up from the ground, making sure only to let go once her footing was sturdy. I didn't want her falling over on me.

Once she was standing I resumed looking around the cavern for something to use to get us out of here, I had to squint, but I noticed a tunnel leading deeper into the cavern. I just prayed it lead out of this dump as I began to lead Lara in that direction. As we walked I couldn't help but notice the floor was littered with skulls and all sorts of bones, human and animal alike. I think the only thing that disturbed me more was when the tunnel opened up into another "room" and we noticed a body hanging off of the wall, it was a long dead person, but they looked as if they had been tortured to death, candles were stacked up in front of their feet and lit almost like an offering. Staring at it brought an unpleasant chill up my spine. The sound of Lara's shocked gasp was what brought me screeching back to reality.

"Oh, god." Lara used her free hand to cover her mouth as she saw what was in front of us. I immediately moved in front of her to shield her from staring at it anymore than she already had. I opened my arms and she walked into them and broke down crying. I gently stroked her hair as she cried into my shoulder. Granted there wasn't much to pet, as her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, but I could tell it have her some comfort having me there. Once her sobbing had subsided I gently pushed her back and cupped her chin with my right hand and had her look at me.

"We have to get out of here, then I need to find a way to get you and I treated before we get an infection from that damn metal rod, or worse. Now we're going to have to get past that...thing... But I want you to look at me, don't let your eyes leave me okay. Keep ahold of my hand and we'll get out of here just fine." I waited for her to nod before I took her left hand in my right and made my way over to the torch on the wall and grabbed it. There was a hidden tunnel that I noticed beside it and continued to head down it.

When I reached the end I noticed that there was some cloth in the way so I simply ignited it with the torch, who knows what sort of bugs were down here. I'm not a big spider fan, so the less chance I have of running into a creepy crawly the better. After the cloth had been burned away it revealed a small passage into another room, the passage was only a small opening in the rocks to it's a good thing I wasn't claustrophobic like my mom. I gingerly lead Lara through the opening and into the other room, the only way out it seemed was via the opposite wall and it had all sorts of junk piled on top. I did however notice a red barrel next to the pile and wondered if it was flammable.

"Arya, I think you need to relight the torch. The water from the entrance must have put it out. Although the torch could be used as an ignition source if that barrel is flammable, but who knows how close you'd need to be to ignite it. I'd rather not chance losing you after we just survived a death trap." Lara had let go of my hand In order to wander around and try to figure a way out. Much like myself she to found the only plausible way to be over the far wall, and in doing so we'd have to use the barrel.

"Hmmmm... Maybe there's another way we can ignite it. Keep an eye out while I try and relight this thing." I looked around and found another more stable source of fire hanging off of the wall. It looked like coal, but who knows. I went over and thrust the torch into the middle of the flames hoping to reignite the somewhat now dampened torch.

"I think I've got something. There's a beam leading over to the barrel and it's covered in rags, if we could ignite them then maybe we could blow the barrel up, forcing the junk out of the way? The only thing I don't know of it if the barrel is even flammable, and if it is would it cause a big enough explosion on ignition to force the stuff out of our way? How far back should we get so we're not in the crossfire if it does explode? There are so many variables, I just don't know." I looked over and saw Lara up on a ledge close to where we just came thought looking at some beams. I understood her logic and it was pretty sound. If the barrel had been down here for as long as it looked, then it was highly possible to explode rather forcefully upon ignition, however we had no way of knowing if the beam would burn hot enough to catch the barrel on fire. The barrel itself would need some way to ignite, upon closer inspection the top of the barrel seemed to have a cap on it, only it was cloth made, which means it was rigged to be used in the way we were thinking.

"I think we don't need any variables. Lets just set it on fire and hope for the best, worst case scenario we have to double back and hope there's another way out because the thing collapsed, but who knows unless we try, right?" I had turned back to the torch and finally found it relit. Then I went over and climbed on top of the ledge next to Lara. "Alright, on three. One...Two..." I reached forward with the torch and caught the cloth on fire. "Three! Get back, I don't know how this thing is going to..." I grabbed Lara and held her to me against the wall as the barrel exploded outward shaking the room as it did so. I looked down once the explosion was over and the shaking stopped to make sure she was alright. In truth Lara was one of the smartest and bravest girls I'd ever had the pleasure of meeting. She was banged up like me from the fall, but she acted as if nothing had happened, despite wincing here and there.

"Alright, we should be good." I stepped away from her easily and with the distance I was able to see just how grimy we both looked, whatever we had been dragged through wasn't pleasant and it certainly did a number on our clothes. As I looked her over I noticed just how rough her face looked in this light, gone was the soft features of the woman who had just graduated college, now here stood a woman slightly more worried about getting out of some god forsaken cave and finding her friends and maybe a meal, than anything else. Oh, but god she was still so beautiful.

"Yeah..." Lara looked up at me from where she leaned against the wall, then moved forward. I looked like death warmed over I suppose,not exactly the most pleasant of sights. My dirty blonde hair was up in a ponytail that had let some wisps loose. My face was caked in dirt and soot, partially from my job on the ship, and from what we had just been through. My jeans were slightly torn, but provided great protection, and my tank top was a bit worse for wear. "You alright?"

"I'm fine, come on." I turned and leaped down from the ledge and walked over to the far wall. It wasn't that hard to climb as it had logs running across it in a manner that allowed one to easily scale the wall, with little difficulty. Great for someone like me with little to no climbing experience at all. Once I was up I asked Lara if she wanted help, which earned me a slight glare and I held up my hands in a 'I surrender' gesture. The torch had been given to Lara as I climbed and she handed it back to me once I was at the top so she could get up.

"I'm not helpless you know. Roth did take me out and showed me how to survive in the wild. Probably more than you know, no offense as the experience gives more knowledge then books do." She wasn't doing it to be mean, and I understood where she was coming from, but I also knew that despite being trained, you never know how you'll handle a situation until you're thrust into it for real.

"I know, but what you don't know is that despite being trained, you may forget things because of the impact this may have not just on you physically, but mentally as well. I'm not Rambo I can assure you, but when I let my instincts drive me, I have yet to see them put me into a situation I can't escape from, or save me from a dangerous situation if needed. Sometimes all the training in the world can't prepare you for the real thing sweetheart, and that's the scariest truth of them all." I turned and climbed through the hole in the wall that we had blasted through with Lara right behind me, when some wacko grabbed her leg.

"She's right you know. Why not let me help?" He started pulling on Lara's leg and she smacked him in the face with her other foot and I reached forward and decked him in the face with my fist, when he didnt immediately let go. We had just enough time to scramble backwards when the beams holding the rocks up to the entrance collapsed. Panting slightly from the adrenaline rush I got up and held up the torch. The only way to go now was forward, which ment going into cold waters filled with god knows what and try and keep our heads above it.

"Here goes, well everything." I moved forward and stepped down into the water and trudged forward, Lara soon followed suit and we managed to escape into yet another slightly larger cavern, the torch was once again put out due to water streaming in front of the entrance to the cavern. "Dammit! Sometimes I think that this place just doesn't want us to have light." I ground out between my clenched teeth as I stared incredulously at the damp torch. Lara only chuckled at my behavior.

Several minutes later we were both lying on the ground outside once again, and sucking in as much air as we could. I had never encountered a rockslide, but damn it was annoying running for your life, making sure your partner is okay, and fighting off wackos is hard work. I groaned and rolled over, my side still hurt but right now I was hungry and I knew we needed to find someplace safe to rest. The sky clearly stated it would be getting dark soon.


	3. Reminiscing

Disclaimer: I do not own Tomb Raider or anything like that only my OC and my ideas. Please feel free to comment and give me any feedback you may have on how the story has gone so far.

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I grunted as I sat up wincing as my shirt pulled against the hole in my side. I looked over and noticed Lara had just rolled over and was staring at the sky in shock. I can't say as I blamed her running through a cave in and then scrambling up a slope while rocks were trying to squish you like a bug was stressful. On top of that I noticed that the other survivors weren't on the beach anymore as I looked over the edge of the cliff where we were currently resting. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose with my right pointer finger and thumb and let out a disgruntled sigh. It would figure they couldn't stay on the beach, lord only knows where they were at now, but one could hope they were safe. I pity the poor fool who would cross Reyes let alone anyone who dared to cross Roth.

I stopped pinching my nose and frowned as I opened my eyes and stared at the sky. Roth was a good man, he seemed to be really loyal to everyone he encountered and deemed worthy enough to be called friend. He was especially close to Lara, I had at one point though the was her father until Lara cleared that bit up. He had been her fathers best friend, and when her parents passed he took it upon himself to raise her and teach her all he could. Lara was a lucky girl indeed to have someone like that in her life, despite the tragedy that occurred to her family. Family...now there was something I missed. My dad was kind of a dead beat, he never really understood me or took the time to get to know me. He often spent time asking my mother what he should get me as a present for my birthday or Christmas.

"Arya?"

I shook my head. No, my father really wasn't close to me at all, in fact he was almost a complete stranger to me. He wasn't in contact with his own family, and he didn't even let me know I had other siblings from a previous marriage of his. My mother and I were closer though, more times then naught we were sometimes confused for being sisters rather than mother and daughter with how close we were. It made us laugh every time when we saw their reaction after we corrected them. No, my mother was a wonderful and stubborn woman. She was smart as ever and enjoyed reading immensely. In fact I believe she is where I got my reading addiction from, but I had a more natural attraction to technology as well. I had a living playing video games and it was a blast, but I also knew how to build a computer and how to fix one if needed. My hobbies were a bit odd to some people, but those who knew me just let it go, it was who I was after all and they knew I wasn't going to to change for anyone.

"Hey, I hate to interrupt, but we need to move. It's getting slightly chilly and we still need to find the others."

I sighed, I got my mothers and fathers temper, but with my own attitude, it only got worse if I was mad. Heh. The patience was a new thing I had to learn, If I was ever going to cope with stressful situations. Martial arts helped to reign in my temper, and teach me self defense, as well and balance and dexterity. As I stared up at the sky I finally realized I was always on the go or doing something, I never really to any down time. When I did have down time it was weird, I had no idea what to do. I still remembered when Lara and Sam had me join them in their cabin for a few drinks and managed to get me to dance a bit, with some encouraging from Sam. Lara was the one I danced with ironically, the girl really loosened up after a few. Not that I would ever admit it out loud, but she moved in a way that was entrancing. Her whole body was like a magnet your eyes were drawn to the contours of her muscles and the way the moved beneath her clothing as she danced. Her eyes sparkled in the dim light of the cabin and for a while I really felt like it was just us, we'll until Sam made a beeline between us to the bathroom, then the magic was lost.

I was lost in my thoughts, but when I finally shuddered it brought me back to reality, as well as the fact that I now had a rather irate looking Croft in my face, but she did seem to be more concerned then mad, despite the fact that she had her body positioned in a way to suggest otherwise. "Sorry, Lara. I was just thinking of stuff, and I guess I lost track of the fact that we need to find the others as well as some form of shelter. It's going to be getting dark soon, and it's already getting to be a bit chilly." I got up and brushed off my pants, I was glad I had denim, they were quite durable.

"Yes, well I did mention that earlier, but you were lost to your thoughts as you say. I can't blame you, I'm worried about the others just as much as you are, and you're quite right, it is starting to get a bit chilly." Lara crossed her arms and rubbed her hands up and down them trying to bring back some heat using friction. So I moved over to her and placed my hands on hers and moved them up and down as well hoping to try and lend her some of my body heat.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I sat there for so long. I didn't realize you were getting cold, and I feel like an idiot for that. Right now it's just the two of us until we find the others so I really need to start paying attention to you and make sure your alright." Lara looked as if she were going to say something so I spoke up before she got the chance. "I know you can take care of yourself, but for now we need to rely on each other to get through this mess, we need to understand each others strengths and weaknesses. Otherwise we'll just end up dead like the guy back in the tunnel. We can't take any chances, and I don't want you getting hurt any more than you have to." I let my hands fall away from her arms and stepped back.

"Yeah, well the same goes for you too ya know. I know your side hurts as much if not more than mine, but you sure seem to be doing your damnedest not to let it show. I worry about you just as much as you worry about me, hell as much as we worry about the others. Now come on, we'd best get moving if we're going to find any place to rest for the night that may let us get some actual rest and not end up in a cave somewhere dangling from a ceiling." Lara chuckled as she uncrossed her arms and began to move along the edge of the cliff.

I shook my head and followed her, as we moved I noticed that the place was really green considering the fact that it felt rather chilly, it was really nice. We did however come to a point where we had to cross a log to get over, Lara decided to walk over the thing, and slipped almost tumbling off the log. I felt my heart almost leap out of my throat at that. She did however regain her footing and continued across to the other side. Once she was safely over I began to move over as well. I took the safer approach and crawled across the log, well more like scooted, but thankfully the log was dry and didnt try and move on me to much, I focused on Lara the entire time I was moving. I HATE heights, and decided if I looked down I would probably have fainted. So once I was over I carefully got up and scurried onto the land glaring at the log as if it were Satan itself.

Lara rolled her eyes at this and helped me up off the ground. I then proceed to inspect my pants and pull off any unwelcome pieces of bark that still clung to my pants. There were a few around my crotch area and I noticed Lara look away with a slightly red face, I figured she was giving me privacy and that maybe she was just cold. Though I really didn't mind her watching in fact I may have watched if it were her,but then again I might not want to get caught staring so maybe I wouldn't have. Once I was done though we resumed walking and came to a gap, we needed to get across, but the only option was to try and climb an old fighter plane and no way was I risking that.

"You can climb that thing is you feel so inclined, I think I'll try and find a safer route to the other side that I may actually survive." Lara only shook her head and proceeded to go over to the plane and jumped up, she used the spare bits that were showing and climbed it like a natural, I was a bit worried when pieces started falling off of it, and at one point she even had to regain her hand hold because the wing started to break. I was on edge the entire time until she was safely across. When she was safe however she looked at me waiting for me to find a way over.

I looked around and spotted a vine that had been knocked loose when the plane finally collapsed and tugged. It came down easily and then I put my full weight on it, the thing held. So I took a look at the amount of length I had on the vine and how large the gap was and shrugged. I wrapped my hand on the vine and one I was sure I was secure I walked backwards then I ran in a straight line and jumped using my momentum and the vine to swing to the other side. Once I was over the gap I let go and landed in a slight crouch a small distance from Lara.

"What are you Tarzan? What's with the whole vine swinging, and where did you learn that?" Lara was clearly taken aback by the display and looked at me like I had grown a second head.

"Oh yeah, this coming from the lady who climbed an old war fighter plane to get to the other side while it was falling apart on her. Tell me, who was the crazier of us, me or you?" I put my one hand on my hip as I raised an eyebrow at Lara and used my other hand to gesture between Lara and myself.

"Okay, that was a bit risky, but even I didn't know about the vines." She grumbled to herself clearly agitated that she would not be winning this argument.

"Exactly! The vines I noticed were there I just didn't have a way of getting to them, so I will admit your route knocked the vine free, but mine was the safer of the two, and had you stayed with me we might have been able to knock it free without destroying the plane in the process." I smirked as Lara looked up at me mouth slightly ajar in shock and her eyebrows seemed to disappear into her hairline somewhere.

"You...I... Ugh! You are so frustrating, no wonder Reyes always yells at you. And besides, I don't know how to swing on vines so I would have probably just fallen."

"Yes, because Reyes screams at me so much. You and I both know its because its how she gives orders. On top of that you should have trusted me enough to come up with a plan, you should have known I would never let you fall Lara. Besides if I'm Tarzan then that clearly makes you Jane, and if my memory serves me correctly he did teach her how to swing on the vines in the movie." I grinned at her as I relaxed Into a more normal pose and motioned for us to keep moving. "Come on, we've spent enough time bickering."

Lara was slightly taken aback and as I had my back to her I really didn't notice that she also was blushing slightly at the fact that I had called her the Jane to my Tarzan. If I had noticed I certainly would have used it later as a way to tease her without being to harsh. It wasn't my fault I knew how to swing from vines, as it was it was quite freeing. Lara however raced up behind me in no time and we resumed trying to find the others, and it didn't take long to find a camp they had made.

"Hey, that's Sam's bag!" Lara rushed forward and promptly turned the bag upside down in hopes of finding something, as she was doing this I took my time and looked around. I noticed two of my jackets had been unceremoniously left behind in a heap of other stuff. They were a durable leather, the inside was nice and soft, it was made for keeping you warm in rough terrain that may end up cold, while still looking rather sexy and dangerous. I grabbed the jackets and went over to Lara, there I handed her the brown one, and promptly pulled the black one on myself.

"That should help keep the chill off of you, and keep you insulated. The warmth the jacket will provide is nice, and it may help protect your arms from any damage you might get. So what did you find if anything, anything we can use?" I was hopeful, maybe we could get some food, but it was doubtful.

"Just a radio, and Sam's Camcorder. There wasn't any food unfortunately, but it's not really all that surprising. In actuality I think you had more luck than me in finding these jackets, I wonder whose they are anyway."

"Uh, their mine actually. I didn't realize I had anything that survived the wreck, but I guess my jackets were lucky. I'm surprised they were left behind though, I figured someone would want to take them if they were saved what with the benefits they provide and all. Uh, so I guess we should be heading off, no real reason to stay here now that we know they have to be heading inland."

"Right, I just hope they're alright." Lara headed off in the only logical direction we had and I bent down and picked up Sam's bag. It would be useful to have something to carry stuff in, and I took another quick look around. I noticed a hunting knife off to the corner of one of the stones in the ledge we had jumped down from to get to this little campsite. It was still sheathed, but it was the one I had in my cabin. Why was it here, and who left these things for us to find? The questions only doubled and I still had no answers. So I bagged my knife and headed after Lara.

After a while we finally found a place to rest, granted we had to fall down another hole and slide down a cliff, but we found an alcove underneath a rock formation. It made a nice little notch and it looked as If it had already been used as a campsite by someone. There was also some metallic item I didn't readily recognize until Lara showed me it.

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"Oh! Dude that is so badass, it's one of the torches they gave to explorers it's top is made out of a certain substance that if you strike it, it ignites so you can do it as my times as you need and not have to worry about it shortening the handle or running out of fuel. The chemicals are imbued in the metals top so when you strike the sides the top is lit up and you can then carry it like any other torch, it also goes out like one too." I took the torch from Lara and reveled in the ingenuity of the whole thing. Once I was done I put it away in the bag I brought from the other camp and went around trying to find some dry timber. Once I was sure I had enough I brought it over to where the fire would go and Lara worked on lighting it using some matches she had gotten from the other camp.

As I sat down I took a moment to survey our surroundings. There was a trail that lead deeper into the forest and another trail that lead back the way we came. It was a pretty secluded area and with how the rock face that we were under was, it made an easy hiding place from anything or anyone that may want to harm us. I began to take my jacket off as the fire got bigger, the last thing I needed was to get over heated, and the air would certainly help dry the sweat that clung to my body.

"You really should take off the jacket Lara. The fires plenty warm enough and besides you can use the jacket as a blanket for your torso as you sleep." I nudged Lara as I was talking so she could snap out of her thoughts.

"Huh, oh yeah. I suppose your right, we do need sleep. I'm just not tired right now, and besides we'll need to keep an eye out in case we get attacked by a wild animal." She took off the jacket she had on and laid it on the ground beside her. Then she unhooked Sam's camcorder from her waist and stared at it.

"I'll take first watch, I'm used to staying up till odd hours of the night and morning so get some sleep when you can. Besides, I know your worried about the others, but I don't think anyone would want to mess with Reyes or Roth."

"Yeah, your right. Even I don't want to get on their bad sides, you seem to be the only one who can get away with sassing Reyes though. It's kind of funny to see how you both interact." Lara flipped open the camcorder and turned it on. "And as far as this goes, well I suppose we'll find out."

I moved closer to Lara and turned so I was facing the screen. Once she flipped through some settings the screen started to playback some footage that was taken not to long ago. Hell even I remembered the scene on the ship as it was the one time I flipped out on Dr. Whitman. We both watched the screen as words were emitted from the recorder and we re-watched that moment in our past.

_"Here we are with the soon to be world famous archeologist, Lara Croft. She's on the hunt for the lost city of Yamatai home to the magnificent Sun Queen and ancestor of yours truly." At this point Sam had turned the recorder to a mirror on the wall and stared at herself before turning back to Lara. We watched as Sam slowly got Lara to talk some about her work and concerns, which I didn't even know she had. Then the footage jumped to the moment in the kitchen where she and Dr. Whitman had been arguing before I interrupted. _

We watched as I argued with him, then stormed out. From there it was entirely new news to me and Lara seemed to be a bit fidgety.

_"Dammit Whitman! You have no right to treat her like that, she's worked harder than you have on this expedition so far. I know for a fact that if Sam and Jonah weren't here you would be hard pressed to even be slightly interesting on camera." Lara all but yelled in Whitman's face at this with Reyes right behind her marching quite angrily in Whitman's direction._

_"You know what Whitman, I've had just about enough of your bullshit! That girl has done more good for us than you, and you call yourself the Lead Archeologist? No, Arya is right, Lara is providing us with new ideas that fit the lore and the weather patterns. And Lara's right, if Sam and Jonah weren't as kind as they are you wouldn't even have a show to put on, you're to stiff and unmoving. I can't even begin to say how many times i've caught Sam filming Lara or Arya, they are both naturals, granted Arya doesn't know she's on film or she'd clam up."_

_"Hey! I didn't realize anyone knew I filmed her..." Sam seemed to pout a little at this as if it was a giant secret that was now lost. "She's just so calm and she gets into whatever she talks about just like Lara, I don't think anyone could resist watching her if she only knew how good she really was on camera."_

_"Whatever, we're wasting money trying to go another way other than that which has already been done. Aside from things that aren't hard facts we have nothing to support Lara's claim." Whitman tried reigning in the conversation and seemed really smug._

_"You know for someone not wanting to waste our money and time you're really doing a lot of that right now. Lara's idea is new and fresh, and if people who have gone in the other direction so many times haven't found Yamatai what makes you think we would if we followed their course? There is nothing to guarantee we will find anything by following Lara's route, but it seems as if it will leave us something more than if we took a route everyone else has already been on to no avail." Reyes just glared daggers at Whitman, if looks could kill the man would be so far past dead it isn't even funny._

_Roth decided enough was enough and came forward and slammed his left hand palm down onto the table earning everyone's attention that was present. "Enough, all of you! Now I am the captain of this ship, and Lara is offering fresh ideas when we need to figure a final route. We do have limited funds that's why we're going with Lara's idea. That's the end of this discussion, now Lara why don't you and Sam see if you can find Arya and maybe calm her down?" Roth leaned back into a standing position and ran his hand through his hair after he finished talking and let out a slightly agitated sigh._

_"Yeah, no problem. Come on Sam, I think I have an idea of where we can find her." Lara was already heading to the kitchen entrance when Sam called out to her._

_"Don't you always know where she is if something's wrong? I swear it's like you have a sixth sense for if something is wrong with her." Sam chuckled as she followed Lara to the kitchens entrance._

_Lara had stopped and just stared ahead. Then almost after a lot of thought she finally replied. "She's my friend Sam just like you, I..I'm just worried. Now come on, she needs us." _

Lara had finally nodded off while watching the moments from our past, and during that time I had maneuvered behind her and was holding her in my arms. She was warm and soft at the same time, she was tough and something was telling me by the time we were out of here she would be even tougher, and finding the soft and gentle part of her that I held now would be hard after we finally leave. I shook my head and reached down and paused the video before I gently pried the camcorder out of Lara's fingers then I moved out from behind her.

I made sure to keep her upright and not move to suddenly as to awaken her from her slumber, but I laid her down as easily as I could then I dropped the jacket I had given her over her torso and I draped my jacket over her legs to keep her warm. I then picked up the camcorder and headed off to the other opening of the little enclave we had and sat down and stared into the night. I had said I would take first watch, I knew she was exaughsted, and I was glad she was finally asleep. Once I got comfortable I flipped back open the camcorder and pressed play resuming what Sam had said after Lara left to find me from the kitchen.

_Sam sighed and shook her head. "No Lara, I think it's more then that. But above everything she doesn't need us, all she really needs is you. When are you..." Sam sighed and shook her head before she turned around and noticed the camera man. "You can stop recording now, it would be better this way anyway." Sam reached up and took the camera from the man and I watched the camera turn around and face the room before shutting off the recording._

I smiled to myself, I had no idea what else Sam had been going to say, but she had been right and wrong about her statement. I really did need Lara, more so than anything she is a good friend, and maybe a crush? I still hadn't really figured out what I felt for her, I just knew I hated seeing her hurt, or in danger. I sighed and shook my head, it was strange, but Sam had also been wrong I needed both of them, because although I didn't have confusing feelings for Sam she was still my friend and in the state I had been in I really needed my friends.

I shut off the camcorder in order to save what battery it had left and set it down beside me. I then laid back onto the ground and stared up at the stars in the sky and let my mind wander as I listened to the wind and the crickets chirp. The serenity of it all would make you think we were camping, if you didn't know what we had already experienced meant the island was just as deadly as it was beautiful and serene.


End file.
